Go Argos!

Went to my first Canadian Football League (CFL) game last night. The Toronto Argonauts played the B.C. Lions at the Rogers Centre (formerly the SkyDome).

All in all a very enjoyable experience, even though the Lions bested the Argos 27-20 in what was a rematch of last year's Grey Cup championship (which the Argos won, by the way). The Rogers Centre is also a pretty nice place and works well for football. Haven't seen a baseball game there yet, but I bet it's good for that too. The roof was closed when I showed up, but they opened it up right at the beginning of the game.

So, as you probably already know, there are a few differences between Canadian and American football (some were obvious and some I had to look up online):

1. 12 players per side rather than 11. On offense they usually use two "slot backs" instead of a single tight end. On defense (er, "defence") there is additional linebacker or defensive back.

2. The field is larger. 110 yards long (the 50-yard-line is not the center of the field!) with 20-yard-deep end zones. Also, it's 65 yards wide instead of 53 1/3 yards.

3. 3 downs rather than 4. Otherwise gameplay seems to be about the same.

4. The possibility to score 1 point independently of another score. This was the most confusing one, because it happened several times, and I couldn't figure out why. Well, it's called a rouge and happens when a receiving team can't return a kick out of their own end zone. The kicking team gets one point. Also, the ball is live after a field goal attempt if it is missed.

Also, here are a couple of pictures from the evening.

This first one is just a general shot of the two teams coming on the field.

There's the CN Tower peeking out from behind the open dome.

Check out that end zone!

Find the center of the field....

And finally, guess what the Argonauts mascot's name is.... Yep, you guessed it: Jason.